Is a Tired Dog a Good Dog? (or a Happy dog?)
This is a cliché we’ve read and heard numerous places, including in on-line articles from prominent veterinary schools. If veterinary schools and a wide variety of respected trainers maintain this is true, then does that mean it IS true? We should take a step back and ask “where’s the evidence”? And what do we really mean by “good” and “happy”?
There is no general agreement about what constitutes a good dog, and even less agreement about the criteria necessary for a dog to be called happy. To some people, a good dog is a dog that doesn’t cause problems – he doesn’t bark excessively, dig, chew, or pester for attention. Several sources in fact have claimed that exercise produces “amazing” results in preventing or resolving problem behavior. However there is no direct evidence that exercise – in the form of physical activity – by itself can have miraculous effects.
You may be saying to yourself “Forget the evidence, I’ve seen exercise work to prevent problems!” And you may well have seen a decline in your dog’s annoying behaviors if you step up the exercise. Our two dogs Ashley and Coral do seem to sleep more after their walks, and if they are sleeping they can’t be doing annoying things like digging holes in the yard.
But there are numerous examples of exercise not making a difference in problem behaviors. When Ashley was younger and much more active than she is now at 13, a friend at the time, who was a long distance runner, took Ashley and two of his dogs on a 15 mile run in the mountains of southern Colorado. When they returned, Ashley slept for about 30 minutes, woke up, and proceeded to chew on the legs of the couch at our friends’ house.
We’ve also seen dogs with separation anxiety whose owners had been told to take their dogs for a long walk or run before leaving for work to tire them out so they wouldn’t bark or be destructive. Because these behaviors were fear motivated, they continued at the same rate, regardless of the increased physical activity.
The problem with over simplified sayings is that while they may sound catchy, taken to their logical conclusion they often don’t make sense. If a tired dog is a good dog, then it could be said a dog that is passed out from exercise must be the absolute best dog. Now we know that sounds stupid, but that’s the point – if the dog is too tired to do anything, is that equivalent to being a “good” dog?
Certainly physical activity is usually a good thing for dogs, and not enough of it, along with a lack of mental stimulation, can cause dogs to find unacceptable outlets for their physical and mental energy, resulting in what we label “behavior problems”. Most dogs, like most people, probably don’t get enough exercise. But what constitutes quality exercise? Is an hour on a doggie treadmill just as good as an hour at a dog park or a walk with the owner? (the same question could be asked about people – compare an hour on the treadmill at the gym with a walk around the lake with a friend).
Both activities could burn the same number of calories, and some authorities might see no difference between the two. But there are qualitative differences. Walks and the dog park include social interactions and mental stimulation the treadmill doesn’t.
We need to think more carefully about what sorts of enrichment are best for dogs. In the 1980’s when the federal government first mandated an “exercise” requirement for dogs in research facilities, single housed dogs were put on treadmills to meet this requirement. Later research (Suzanne helped conduct one study) found that what was more important than physical exercise for well being was social contact with other dogs (Hetts, S., Clark, J. D., Calpin, J. P., Arnold, C. E. and J. M. Mateo. 1992. Influence of housing conditions on beagle behaviour. Appl. Anim. Beh. Sci. 34: 137-155)
The bottom line is that a general recommendation for “exercise” as a problem prevention or resolution technique, over-simplifies what dogs really need. We hear people all the time say how smart their dogs are. If that’s the case then dogs need an overall enriched environment – that meets their needs for physical, social and mental stimulation.
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17 Responses to “Is a Tired Dog a Good Dog? (or a Happy dog?)”
Rum Robinson
Hi Suz and Dan,
Thank you so much for this enlightening article.
I think it’s very easy for some people to forget that dogs have emotions and personalities, just like us, and they need the appropriate environment and care in order to be healthy and happy – not just too tired to be disobedient!
Suz and Dan
Hi Jana – your comment actually illustrates our point. It sounds like your dogs have more than physical exercise – they also have social time with you, and you do ‘fun things with them. So you are apparently providing an overall enriched environment which supports your dogs’ behavioral health
Suzanne and Dan
Jana Rade
Judging by my dogs and dogs I know, yes, tired dog is a good dog. Our guys get plenty of outdoor fun and exercise. When they are at home, they stretch comfortably and rest or hang out. They look very content and comfortable. They are very happy and excited when it is time to go out again.
They don't destroy anything and don't pester. To me those are good and happy dogs.
To illustrate further, our daughter's Chihuahua used to spend day in our place. At first she was hyper and the house was full of her. She'd be demanding attention and being overall pesty. After we started taking her with it for our walks, she calmed down and turned into a mirror image of our own dogs. Just hanging and resting and waiting for the next walk.
Suz and Dan
We do think that DayCare can be a positive experience for many dog and can contribute to meeting physical, mental and social needs.
Of course it might not be helpful to dogs fearful of dogs or people, or to dogs that play too rough or threaten other dogs. So we need to educate owners and some daycare operators how to tell that a dog isn’t having a good time and for them not to continue exposing him or her to a bad experience.
Thanks for comment Laurie.
Laurie
Suzanne,
I do apologize for misspelling your name. I know better, as I did travel to Denver (From Washington state) to a seminar you and Dan did on dog aggression, and have taken a couple of webinars through ABA. As soon as I hit "send" I realized the error of my ways. I do realize that different breeds require different methods of exercise/stimulation. I was wondering what specific ideas you would recommend is all. I own a doggie daycare and wondered if you were a proponent of that type of stimulation. Rather than ask you your view on doggie daycares, I decided to see if it would be one of the ideas you would throw out. We have many different breeds that attend (small to large) and I would like to believe that we are not just "wearing the dogs out" to the point of exhaustion (so they dont destroy things only because they are tired). I would like to believe that we are exercising them physically but also stimulating them mentally. If I have heard "A tired dog is a happy dog" once, I have heard it 1000 times from my clients AND other people. Thank you for replying and again I apologize for the spelling error.
Laurie
Suz and Dan
Dear Misty – It’s nothing new that exercise can affect one’s mood – that’s been known for decades. The research however has been done in humans, because we can’t ask animals how they feel. That’s really an empirical question – isn’t it – whether a dog that has been out running around is mentally as well as physically tired. Difficult subject to gather data on. That was one of our points – is that it is an assumption that physical activity also provides mental stimulation – which is a generality that likely isn’t supportable – i.e. our treadmill example.
Certainly true that many people and dogs – in th U.S. at least – don’t get sufficient exercise. Both species fight obesity – nothing surprising there. I don’t think anything in our article would suggest we were discouraging people from giving their dogs opportunities for physical exercise – we were getting people to think about that an enriched environment for dogs likely requires more than that.
Can’t really make sense of your comment about evolution, but think we are mostly in agreement about exercise being a good thing, but that alone won’t meet all of his behavioral needs.
Thanks for your comment
Suzanne and Dan
Misty
Read "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain", and you will better understand how regular aerobic exercise balances brain chemistry and promotes emotional well-being.
I agree that exercise is just one component of an overall health regime, that the quality of the exercise matters, and that dogs require additional forms of environmental enrichment and social interaction. But "A tired dog is a good dog" does not just refer to physical tiredness. Dogs that have had an outing, free-running and sniffing, for example, are both physically and mentally tired. Different breeds require different levels of both physical and mental exercise. Most dogs (and most humans) in the US don't get enough regular physical exercise.
Please promote exercise, don't discourage it in any way. Daily exercise is a natural by-product of dog (and human) evolution, therefore a vital part of a balanced lifestyle.
Suz and Dan
Hi Laurie – there is no Susan here, but I Suzanne will try to answer your question. There is no one size fits all when it comes to environmental enrichment. If you are a member of our Behavior Education Network (www.BehaviorEducationNetwork.com) you have access to the recording of a 1/2 day presentation I gave for PetSmart’s Rescue Waggin’ on the subject. So clearly your question can’t be fully answered in a blog post. You need to consider the characteristics of the individual dog plus the environment the animal lives in. What constitutes good environmental enrichment for a 6 month old Jack Russell Terrier is going to be very different than what’s best for a 13 year old Dalmatian, say.
In addition, someone living in an urban apartment is going to have different limitations for what they can provide than someone living in the suburbs on an acre in a 4000 square foot house. Take a look at the natural history of dogs – and of different breeds – and get a sense what they are predisposed to do. You can take a look at an ethogram – Scott and Fuller have at least a partial one in their book.
And to be honest, more research is needed in this area, using methods that have been employed to try to determine how best to enrich animals in zoos, research laboratories and other captive environments. If you are really interested in delving into the subject, you should begin to research that literature. We know that social isolation for dogs is quite a bit stressor, so that would be a place to start.
Thanks for your question
Suzanne
Laurie
Susan,
I am wondering what you would consider physical and mental stimulation. You say we need to think more carefully about what sorts of enrichment are best for dogs. In your opinion what would the enrichment consist of?
Thank you,
Laurie
Suz and Dan
Your book is a great resource Gillian – Check it out Readers!
Suzanne and Dan
Suz and Dan
You are welcome Diana – glad you enjoyed the article, perhaps it will encourage people to look at more than just physical activity, as you say.
Suzanne and Dan
Suz and Dan
Yes, I guess you have to look for the balance Susan. Our Irish setter Coral who was bred for the field, just naturally comes with boundless energy and stamina – she is just built to be quite the canine athlete. We’ve never tired her out for long, but we wouldn’t have her any other way!
Suzanne and Dan
Suz and Dan
Yep – same holds true for bored kids Amy-Marie!
Suzanne
amy-marie
I have a very high energy dog and I agree that it is a cliche that a tired dog is a good dog. Whenever my dog hasn't had enough stimulation he will start acting out (grabbing things he shouldn't, exploring countertops etc.) and I know I either need to play a game, train or go for a walk with him. I think people sometimes forget if they are tired after a long day that a quick training session can settle and relax their dog. I think the saying could be improved by us saying "a bored dog, may get into trouble" behavior issues aside, we are all better off with a little exercise and it doesn't always need to be physical
Susan
Good article. One thing you leave out is how increasing exercise can backfire. It is possible to condition a dog into becoming quite the canine athlete with the stamina to match by upping the exercise. That way getting to the "tired dog" stage can become more difficult and take more time and more exercise, resulting in a dog with even more stamina. This is great if that is your goal and you do performance work or real work with your dog. Not so great if your goal is simply to provide healthy exercise and you want to end up with a happily tired and satisifed dog.
diana allensworth
i am so happy to read this here.
i've been trying to spread the word about exercise and dogs for some time now.
i tend to think that mental stimulation and appropriate social interactions with their own species is actually more important than forced physical exercise. when combined with allowing the dog to choose the pace of some off-leash physical exercise (to me this does not include such human controlled games as fetch or tug), mental and social enrichment can effect a change in a dog's emotions and greatly reduce many so-called behavior problems.
thank you for this very timely piece.
Gillian Shippen
It is so good to read this sort of article. I have always had the opinion that mental stimulation is just as important as physical and the two can go hand in hand.
One of the reasons Nina Ottosson created the interactive toys in her range was because she felt guilty about not being able to spend the time she used to with her dogs following the birth of her children. That coupled with adverse weather conditions sometimes making it difficult to exercise her dogs adequately, she wanted toys in which she could spend QUALITY time with them as well as exercise and stimulate their minds.
Whilst I do say it's not a "be all end all" argument, I am always advising my clients that they need to recognise mental stimulation, in the end I wrote a small book on environmental enrichment (Pets Need A Life Too! – A guide to enriching the life of your pet: series one – dogs)…… see http://www.petsneedalifetoo.com – the first in a planned series of three) – just to give the everyday pet owners a guide as to what they can do.